Here is a true story that I want to share with all of you so that you can laugh and point, but also as a cautionary tale to all of you who have the Nuclear disease so that you will know the warning signs if you see them in yourself.

I just got back from a week-long class field trip to Eastern Washington where I crawled around on my hands and knees in the desert identifying plants (yes, Trassin, there IS a desert in Washington).

On our last night there the dishwasher in the cookhouse crapped out so the powers-that-be called the Park Ranger. Park Ranger (heretofore called simply "Dude") is expected to be a handyman and jack-of-all-trades, but nonetheless finds himself thoroughly stumped by the dishwasher. Soon, someone thinks to ask me to take a look at it, because I've been in the Military, and "Military dudes know stuff like that". I walk into the kitchen, take one look at the dishwasher, and my first question was, "are we missing goes-inzis or goes-outzis?" Dude stares blankly at me. I clarify, asking if there's water coming into the machine. He says yes, and shows me the solenoid valve that controls water coming into the machine.

My first advice then was to check the hose downstream of this to the T-junction that sends water to thet upper and lower jets for blockage. He does so, and finds no blockage. Nonetheless, we still can't get the machine to fill. My next brilliant brainstorm was this: if I was going to design a dishwasher, I would want to make sure it didn't overflow. I'd install some sort of level sensor that tells it where to start and stop filling. Sure enough, there were two sensors at the back of the machine. They were simple conductors that close a circuit when the water reaches them, rather than the more reliable float switches I would have used, but they were not covered with lime scale and appeared to be functioning properly.

Next we checked the drain. Dude didn't have a Plumber's snake small enough for the hole so we ran a coat hanger through it--nothing. "WTF?" was the feeling. The drain solenoid cycled fine. I had an idea. What I did next was to use a bucket to fill the machine above the high level sensor, then turned it on. It immediately tripped the wall breaker. "AHA! " I said to myself. "We have a short somewhere!" It didn't take me but five minutes to find it--sometime during the winter a mouse had taken up residence inside the dishwasher and had chewed the wires coming from the sensors to the control module up pretty good. Every time the high level was sensed, it popped the breaker. It would only fill sometimes, if you shook the machine just so. There were two solenoids and two sensors, and a ground--all told, a total of nine wires. As luck would have it, it was wired into a standard DB-9 D-Sub connector. I showed Dude how to rewire the unit, then shook hands and went back to my studies, satisfied that I had done my good deed for the day.

Then it happened.

I had a Nuclear moment.

I realized that if someone was working on that thing and it drew current sufficient to pop a 20-amp 220V breaker, they could be killed. I looked at the switch for the breaker and discovered a hole drilled neatly through it.

I tagged it out.

For real.

What else could I do? I didn't want it on my conscience if somebody killed themselves, and God only knows what kind of yokels might be out there in that State Park working on that thing.

So.

I ask you all, is there hope for rehabilitation, or will I think like a fucking Nuke forever? I want Hyman G. Rickover OUT OF MY HEAD! It's not fair!_________________We live in an amazing, amazing world, and it's wasted on the crappiest generation of spoiled idiots. -- Louis CK

We are going to have to stick a pin in a map, set fire to something and carry on until the earth looks flat! -- RandyMac

I could teach you to how file a washer to make it worth a nickel but if you really want to make big bucks just take a penny and drill a hole in it and it becomes a washer and is worth a dime. -- Art Martin, Old-Time Logger

Last edited by Madhatte on Sun May 01, 2005 9:03 am; edited 1 time in total

I work for an electrical power distribution company. We not only tag things out all the time with red and yellow tags, but we also have green and blue tags as well. The yellow and red are for what you would think they are for, but i still haven't grasped the need for the other two colors yet.

So don't fear, tagouts are a semi normal part of non-nuclear life too. If you looked to get permission from someone before placing that tagout, then I'd be worried._________________"I don't have dreams about the Navy. The Navy killed all of my dreams." - Buddy Lee

I told my dad this story (he's an ex-nuke) and his first reaction was, "Did you sign it?"

I told him to get stuffed._________________We live in an amazing, amazing world, and it's wasted on the crappiest generation of spoiled idiots. -- Louis CK

We are going to have to stick a pin in a map, set fire to something and carry on until the earth looks flat! -- RandyMac

I could teach you to how file a washer to make it worth a nickel but if you really want to make big bucks just take a penny and drill a hole in it and it becomes a washer and is worth a dime. -- Art Martin, Old-Time Logger

I was drunk talking about theoretic physics and chemistry(like most nukes do from time to time) with a chick on the phone last Saturday night, does that count? She wanted to discuss fusion, but her theories werenet sound as far as sucking it from space with a giant mega-maid style collection device(though the idea is intriguing since it involves giant robots. Electolysis is an easy way to make hydrogen, but I don't know if it'd use more energy than the fission would make...

I think I turned her off when she told me that rainfall has been decreasing with the distruction of the rain forests and I told her "Wah!"_________________Flirtin' with disaster,
Ya'll know what I mean.
You know the way we run our lives,
It makes no sense to me.

Jeebus, Charcoal, every time I see that avatar I just squirm. FER REALZ._________________We live in an amazing, amazing world, and it's wasted on the crappiest generation of spoiled idiots. -- Louis CK

We are going to have to stick a pin in a map, set fire to something and carry on until the earth looks flat! -- RandyMac

I could teach you to how file a washer to make it worth a nickel but if you really want to make big bucks just take a penny and drill a hole in it and it becomes a washer and is worth a dime. -- Art Martin, Old-Time Logger

You'll always be a nuke. Hyman is your daddy. Besides, danger tags are an OSHA requirement for pretty much anything industrial being worked on so you did the right thing. God why do I feel dirty saying "Hyman"? Is it a that its part of a womans reproductive organs or is it because I wish that man is burning in hell as I write this?_________________I'm pretty sure I've done a couple stripteases because of Tito's Vodka.

I had another Navy moment today. My professor was talking about something in an historical context (I neither remember nor care what) and started referring to former US president "Teddy" Roosevelt. Now, as anybody from Cellblock 71 who was ever forced to pretend to give a flying fuck about ESWS knows, the man Theodore Roosevelt hated being called "Teddy" and would only respond to "Theodore" or "TR". As my professor droned on, saying "Teddy" over and over, I found myself irritated, "knowing" that this was wrong. Once I caught myself, I went back to not caring, but for a few minutes there I was uncomfortable as all get-out and couldn't figure out why. I quickly corrected myself and got on with the serious business of living._________________We live in an amazing, amazing world, and it's wasted on the crappiest generation of spoiled idiots. -- Louis CK

We are going to have to stick a pin in a map, set fire to something and carry on until the earth looks flat! -- RandyMac

I could teach you to how file a washer to make it worth a nickel but if you really want to make big bucks just take a penny and drill a hole in it and it becomes a washer and is worth a dime. -- Art Martin, Old-Time Logger

You poor fool. I find it easier to deal with the Navy if I make myself forget what happened at work. I have actually taught myself to forget the day during my drive home. I can only remember the previous day if I concentrate. And, the previous week is entirely lost to me. It's like a retroactive time accelerator. And I love me for this gift I gave myself._________________"I'll punch your FIST with my FACE!" -- Vy

Ain't that the truth._________________We live in an amazing, amazing world, and it's wasted on the crappiest generation of spoiled idiots. -- Louis CK

We are going to have to stick a pin in a map, set fire to something and carry on until the earth looks flat! -- RandyMac

I could teach you to how file a washer to make it worth a nickel but if you really want to make big bucks just take a penny and drill a hole in it and it becomes a washer and is worth a dime. -- Art Martin, Old-Time Logger

Your real worry should be that with a head that size madhatte old Hyman G. Rickover could actually be living in your head and you would never even notice._________________The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honorable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. - Albert Einstein
"Raccoons oscillate at 50Hz in Europe." - FAWBOTS
"I'm not sure I'm up for orgy scrabble parties" - Female Friend

I hate you._________________We live in an amazing, amazing world, and it's wasted on the crappiest generation of spoiled idiots. -- Louis CK

We are going to have to stick a pin in a map, set fire to something and carry on until the earth looks flat! -- RandyMac

I could teach you to how file a washer to make it worth a nickel but if you really want to make big bucks just take a penny and drill a hole in it and it becomes a washer and is worth a dime. -- Art Martin, Old-Time Logger

I aim to please_________________The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honorable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. - Albert Einstein
"Raccoons oscillate at 50Hz in Europe." - FAWBOTS
"I'm not sure I'm up for orgy scrabble parties" - Female Friend

Are you ready for another Navy Moment? Turning on the stove to boil water for coffee this morning (I have a French Press) I caught myself doing the old point-read-operate routine while turning the switch to make the hot come out. Had to laugh at myself for that one._________________We live in an amazing, amazing world, and it's wasted on the crappiest generation of spoiled idiots. -- Louis CK

We are going to have to stick a pin in a map, set fire to something and carry on until the earth looks flat! -- RandyMac

I could teach you to how file a washer to make it worth a nickel but if you really want to make big bucks just take a penny and drill a hole in it and it becomes a washer and is worth a dime. -- Art Martin, Old-Time Logger